S. Koreans shine at taekwondo world cham’ship

SEOUL, June 24, (AFP): The 2017 Taekwondo World Championship opened in South Korea Saturday with local stars giving the home crowd plenty to cheer about.

In the city of Muju, about 240 kms (149 miles) south of Seoul, Kim Tae-hun, chasing a third consecutive title, made it to the last four in the men’s under-54kg class as did Sim Jae-young in the women’s under-46 kg category.

The semi-final and the final of both categories will take place on Sunday.

Kim, ranked sixth in the world and bronze medal winner at the 2016 Rio Olympics, opened by defeating Kitso True Molaodi of Botswana 15-2, then Japan’s Ryuta Matsui 29-3 before beating Hassan Haider of the United Kingdom.

His quarter-final victory came against Deniz Dagdelen of Turkey and was won 27-7 to earn a semi-final with Italian outsider Vito Dell’Aquila.

Iran’s Armin Hadipour, ranked three, will take on Thailand’s Ramnarong Sawekwiharee, in the other last four showdown.

Sim Jae-young made it to the last four of the women’s section where she will fight Andrea Ramirez of Colombia while Thailand’s Napaporn Charanawat and Truong Thi Kim Tuyen of Vietnam meet in the other semi-final.

This event, which features all eight gold medal winners from the 2016 Rio Olympics, is the 23rd edition of the world championships and runs until June 30.